Comm. between Python and PHP

[Nils Emil P. Larsen]

Hello

I'm building a daemon in Python. It will measure and control some
physical devices on a serial bus. Since it is a daemon, it will never
terminate and I can't interfere with the regulation of the devices by
using command line parameters. I want to control the regulation by
using a Internet browser.

What is the easiest way to make my threaded Python daemon communicate
with a PHP-script running from Apache2 on localhost?

Thank you so far!

Nils Emil P. Larsen
--
My reply-address is valid. www.bios-flash.dk
Min svar-adresse er gyldig. Redning af døde BIOS'er

[Peter Hansen]

Re: Comm. between Python and PHP

Nils Emil P. Larsen wrote:[color=blue]
> I'm building a daemon in Python. It will measure and control some
> physical devices on a serial bus. Since it is a daemon, it will never
> terminate and I can't interfere with the regulation of the devices by
> using command line parameters. I want to control the regulation by
> using a Internet browser.
>
> What is the easiest way to make my threaded Python daemon communicate
> with a PHP-script running from Apache2 on localhost?[/color]

"Easiest" of course depends on lots of things, and mostly on
specifics that you haven't told us, and your personal preference.

Two obvious possibilities that come to mind are "write a file
somewhere from PHP and poll for updates from Python", and
"use sockets (TCP)" or "use UDP".

Maybe if you can describe more about what you need (e.g. what
form will this "control" take?) some even simpler suggestions
will come to mind.

-Peter

[Noah]

Re: Comm. between Python and PHP

It wasn't quite clear, but I assume that you want a PHP script that
can call on the Python daemon and not have the daemon make
calls to a PHP script.

You could use xml-rpc which is built into Python as of version 2.2:

http://docs.python.org/lib/module-xmlrpclib.html

On the PHP side xmlrpc is still experimental. You have to
enable this when you build PHP:

http://us3.php.net/manual/en/ref.xmlrpc.php

You could also just add a simple HTTP interface to your daemon.
It's pretty easy to add an HTTP interface to your daemon.
Look at SimpleHTTPServe r the docs:

http://docs.python.org/lib/module-SimpleHTTPServer.html

You will also need to read the source for SimpleHTTPServe r.py to
figure out how it works (I don't know why they don't just put the
example
in the docs instead of putting the example in the source).

Yours,
Noah

[Nick Craig-Wood]

Re: Comm. between Python and PHP

Peter Hansen <peter@engcorp. com> wrote:[color=blue]
> Nils Emil P. Larsen wrote:[color=green]
> > What is the easiest way to make my threaded Python daemon communicate
> > with a PHP-script running from Apache2 on localhost?[/color]
>
> "Easiest" of course depends on lots of things, and mostly on
> specifics that you haven't told us, and your personal preference.
>
> Two obvious possibilities that come to mind are "write a file
> somewhere from PHP and poll for updates from Python", and
> "use sockets (TCP)" or "use UDP".[/color]

If the data you want to pass is structured then you might consider
XML-RPC which is a cross platform way of passing structured data
around. XML-RPC is part of the python standard library
(SimpleXMLRPCSe rver and xmlrpclib) and there seem to be several
implementations for PHP

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=xml+rpc+php

That might be overkill for what you want though!
--
Nick Craig-Wood <nick@craig-wood.com> -- http://www.craig-wood.com/nick

[Tim Roberts]

Re: Comm. between Python and PHP

Nils Emil P. Larsen <ne-nospam7@post.cy bercity.dk> wrote:[color=blue]
>
>Hello
>
>I'm building a daemon in Python. It will measure and control some
>physical devices on a serial bus. Since it is a daemon, it will never
>terminate and I can't interfere with the regulation of the devices by
>using command line parameters. I want to control the regulation by
>using a Internet browser.
>
>What is the easiest way to make my threaded Python daemon communicate
>with a PHP-script running from Apache2 on localhost?[/color]

Python is perfectly capable of generating HTML. You don't have to demean
yourself by working in PHP.

Sockets and pipe files are common methods of communicating with a daemon.
--
- Tim Roberts, timr@probo.com
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.

[Nils Emil P. Larsen]

Re: Comm. between Python and PHP

Hello
[color=blue]
>Python is perfectly capable of generating HTML. You don't have to demean
>yourself by working in PHP.[/color]

Thanks for the tip about using Python instead of PHP to generate web
pages. I may follow it.

Nils Emil
--
My reply-address is valid. www.bios-flash.dk
Min svar-adresse er gyldig. Redning af døde BIOS'er

[Nils Emil P. Larsen]

Re: Comm. between Python and PHP

Hello

Sorry for not being too exact in my request!
[color=blue]
>If the data you want to pass is structured then you might consider
>XML-RPC which is a cross platform way of passing structured data[/color]

XML-RPC looks like something very suitable for my needs. It seems
Python handles the remote procedure calls very easily (almost like
local functions).
It also works quite well in PHP. I didn't recompile anything but
downloaded Keith Devens XML-RPC Library (500 lines code). With this I
can call RPC-functions almost as easily as with Python. It took me
just about an hour to get it working...

Thanks everybody!

Nils Emil P. Larsen


--
My reply-address is valid. www.bios-flash.dk
Min svar-adresse er gyldig. Redning af døde BIOS'er